View full sizeAlabama Supreme Court Justice Lyn Stuart speaks to University of South Alabama graduate students in 2004. Stuart said today that she will seek re-election to her associate justice office and will not run for the Supreme Court's chief justice job.

Alabama Supreme Court Associate Justice Lyn Stuart said today she intends to run for re-election and will not be a candidate for chief justice next year.

Chief Justice Chuck Malone announced today that he will seek the Republican nomination for a full term. Malone was appointed by Gov. Robert Bentley to fill out the unexpired term of former Chief Justice Sue Bell Cobb, who resigned effective Aug. 1.

Former attorney general Charlie Graddick, who is the presiding circuit judge in Mobile County, has also announced he is running for chief justice as a Republican.

Stuart, a Republican from Bay Minette, previously expressed an interest in running for chief justice but said today that she would instead seek re-election to a third term as an associate justice. Her first six-year term on the court began in 2000 and she was re-elected in 2006. Her current term expires in January 2013.

"My plans are to run for re-election as associate justice," Stuart said, adding that she would make a formal announcement later this fall.

Stuart said she met with Malone on Tuesday to discuss the race. She said Malone, a former circuit judge in Tuscaloosa who left the bench to serve as Bentley's chief of staff, "is the governor's choice to be chief justice. He deserves his opportunity to do the job and stand for election by the people."

Stuart, a former assistant attorney general under Graddick, said she did not anticipate that she would make an endorsement in the GOP primary.

"One thing I've learned in politics is that you run your own race and stay out of others," she said.